Usually I love bringing people here and I enjoy the staffs care and passion for what they do, but I have to agree with other reviewers that the $15 corkage fee is absurd. This was the first time I bought wine to have during my visit, usually I just do by the glass. Theres no signage or explanation of this corkage fee as the staff encourages you to buy a bottle from their collection. Corkage fees are meant for people bringing in outside wine, not for purchasing wine from the place to be opened there. Im really disappointed by this hidden fee. Ill probably never buy a bottle from them again because of this. It sucks because I really love the atmosphere and people who work at Crush Pad, but either be straight up about corkage or do away with the bogus fee.
I mean the wine selection is great but the markup is ridiculous. As someone in the industry, I am generally immune to sticker shock, especially if the experience is fantastic... But, to be ignored by staff for 5 minutes upon entry and then have to listen to a local restaurant owner complain endlessly about her staff and the average "ignorant consumer" kind of knocked the experience down a few notches. So when the bill came and 2 glasses of wine was $30, I felt like I had been gaslighted. Not sure I'd go back, maybe to buy a bottle to go, but then again, there are several other local markets with more reasonable prices and down-to-earth staff.
What makes this the best place on the downtown mall isn't just the great food and wine, but the quality of service and the people who work there! Vincent is awesome and always makes time to speak to us when we're there even if he's insanely busy, which is quite common. Tom, Wes, and Rachael really round out the crew with great personalities! Can't recommend this establishment highly enough!
I was fully ready to give this place an amazing 5-star review until we received the bill. The atmosphere was great, the small menu choices were delightful, and ordering from Luce (a sister restaurant) to have pasta and pizza delivered was pretty fantastic. The server was very lovely, and helped as best she could. What was absolutely mind-boggling and enraging was the surprise $15 PER BOTTLE corkage fee that was placed on the check unbeknownst to us. Corkage fees were designed to allow people to bring a specialty wine themselves to a restaurant and allow the restaurant to be compensated for the wine service (and to make up lost revenue from a potential wine bottle sale). However when we walked in, there was no wine menu, and when we asked the staff they said "Oh you can pick a bottle of wine from the wall, or we have wine by the glass from the wines in the bucket." Without proper signage and the fact that we had four people in our party, it only made sense to get wine by the bottle. For a wine bar to charge a corkage fee for bottles they are already selling you, and not even have a menu with a disclaimer, it's shady and extremely distasteful. I'm surprised ABC is allowing them to do this practice, as a wine-industry member myself I am well versed in the Wine laws and corkage fees of Virginia. If they are trying to be a retail store- fine, but consider making a retail vs in-house wine list with pricing. At the minimum, the corkage fee per bottle you sell needs to be listed, highlighted, and stated to guests coming in as this is not a normal or good practice to have as a new restaurant/bar in town.
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